Being of the Cat
by thE eKLeKtiK avrge JoE
Summary: A little story about Kyo, his past, and who he has become.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket.**

When I was younger and still living at the Sohma house, there was this one room Disclaimer: I do not profit from this, although I dare to dream.

When I was younger and still living at the Sohma house, there was this one room. It was on the second floor, and had a window looking out over the gardens where the other kids played. The room was sparse, with only a bed, a desk, and a chair. The walls were completely bare and white with the only color being the bed covers and the paneled floor. Unlike the rest of the doors in the house, this room had a wooden door instead of a paper one, and a lock. A lock meant to keep someone in the room rather than out.

That room, that room was mine. I never got a choice in the matter. No one did, but there were better rooms to get than that one. The room that was the farthest away from everyone. That was my room. Unlike that damn Yuki, who got the room right in the middle of the house, with everyone completely surrounding him, the nicest next to Akito's. It wasn't even like we had a shortage of rooms in the house that was more like a mansion.

But I was different. Not only did I carry the Sohma curse, I was also the outcast of all the others. Because I'm the cat … and a monster.

I can remember learning for the first time why I was given that room. I was ten. Even back then Akito was cruel, and I had dared to get on his nerves. I had stumbled yet again on Yuki receiving his punishment, and for some reason instead of walking away like I had always done I decided to try and spare the rat boy of some pain. Why? I don't know. To this day, I don't know what possessed me to dare such a dangerous task. One that few tempted, and even fewer survived undamaged.

Akito didn't take well to being talked back to, and made me watch the rest of Yuki's beating, even though he had already been teetering consciousness. It was the one of the only times I felt sympathetic toward that damn rat. And that's only because from that day on, we would share the pain would Akito inflict.

After he decided he'd had enough of "playing" with him, Akito called for Hatori to care for Yuki before he proceeded to drag me up to my room, which was a surprise to me considering how sickly he was and how weak he looked. But then anger and adrenaline can do that to a person. The whole time he was silent. A deadly kind of silent, the kind that in its silence tells you that you better make your peace with whichever god you believe in. This was the kind of silence that tells you that pain will soon consume your entire world. At that age though, I just didn't know how to explain it. I just felt it, and it was bad.

When we reached my room, Akito threw me onto my bed, slowly and quietly shut and locked the door in that way that he does, and turned to me. His head was bowed and his face completely covered by his long, jet-black hair, his hands were balled up and shaking at his sides. His whole body was tensed, like a tiger before it pounces on its prey.

"Did you think you could save Yuki by simply ordering me to? You poor fool." Still, he hadn't moved. "What could you have been thinking? Hm? Even if you had, he still would have hated you. You'll never fit in, so stop trying."

"I wasn't-"

I gasped. Akito had cut me off by one swift move of his head and a withering glare.

"You're talking back. Yet again. You will never learn, will you? Poor monster, too stupid to understand that simple rule. Too _stupid_ to hope for the acceptance he will never have." I didn't understand what he was trying to tell me, other than I was _stupid_, but I knew it wasn't the best of things.

I was still where I had been thrown on the bed. I couldn't have moved even if I wanted to. Not as long as that Akito fixed me with that stare of his, cold and calculating. Hypnotizing no matter how many times it's been thrown your way. Its memory alone can chill me to the bone. And then he struck.

I had no warning; no way to know it was coming. No way to save myself. There was no way out. He snapped the same whip he had used on Yuki and struck my arm and side. It stung like nothing I'd ever felt before. The initial pain did not immediately fade away, but instead took days to finally go away in the form of welts and open wounds. As soon as it struck, I yelled and turned on my side. That was not a good idea. The whip became lethal and cruel in Akito's hands, striking my back, my arms, my legs, my stomach, and on occasion, my face. In the times since, I have learned to keep my screams to myself, but that first time … there was no way of knowing the rules.

You did not make noise. You did not speak unless spoken too. You did not move. You did nothing unless you are told to. And the special one for me: You just _know_ that you are different, unwanted, unloved.

I grew up this way. This was the "truth" I was taught, and my first lesson was given to me that day.

At least Yuki is loved.


End file.
